. . . transition acceleration . . .

It is incredible how quickly we move through the time continuum. Just a little over a month ago, during the month of June, I spent one day a week meeting with Pastor Keith learning about my new church. This first month my time has been spent getting to know the current leaders of the congregation. Learning each one's passion for God and the movement of Christ's Holy Church has been a valuable exercise. I have learned so much about the beautiful people who have come to call Country Club United Methodist Church their church home.

It is a blessing to be here and to begin this journey together as we testify to the majesty of our Creator God and the transforming love of Jesus Christ.

This has been an interesting time to transition into a new church: the Covid-19 pandemic, social unrest across the country, maskers vs. anti-maskers, social distancing, no singing in church... the list could go on and on.

When non-essential workers were required to shelter-in-place in March, there was talk about a new-normal because everything changed overnight. We were in a time of quick transitions and uncertainty. I was reticent to call it a new normal because in reality we were experiencing a time of immediate and necessary adaptation. I am now beginning to say, we are starting to live into a new normal. One thing I can say for sure, life is different, and we will continue to live differently. Even our understanding of how to do church is changing, and we are called to navigate these unchartered territories.

One thing that has not changed, though, is God's majesty. I love these words from Psalm 19.

Heaven is declaring God’s glory;

the sky is proclaiming his handiwork.

One day gushes the news to the next,

and one night informs another what needs to be known.

Of course, there’s no speech, no words—

their voices can’t be heard—

but their sound extends throughout the world;

their words reach the ends of the earth.            

Psalm 19: 1-4 (CEB)

Sometimes in the midst of change and adaptation, we miss where God is at work. In all honesty, we are a society that is addicted to busy, so missing God's action in the world is not a new thing for modern-day followers of Jesus Christ. Church strategist Carey Nieuwhof says in a recent post, 

"If you take a moment to reflect though, you’ll also realize that the world [we] were trained to serve in was already disappearing pre-COVID thanks to massive cultural, generational and technological shifts."

The pandemic has accelerated the shift. With so many distractions, "The world has never seemed more disinterested in the Gospel, yet has never needed it more."

As followers of Jesus Christ, we have a real opportunity to partner with him to share the Good News with others and help him build God's kingdom on earth... but that requires seeing God's majesty in our every day lives. It requires being able to see our stories in the larger context of God's story. And it requires gathering, initially, with other Christ-followers to learn to talk about it. It is within the context of smaller gatherings that equip us to witness to God's work in our lives.

During the month of August, I want to challenge you to find one or two other people you can talk to within our congregation and ask these two questions on a weekly basis.

1. Where have you seen God at work (start with where have you seen hope if you are struggling to see God, and remember that's ok to not know where God is)?
2. How are you connecting to God? Prayer, journaling, reading Scripture, fasting - or other Spiritual Disciplines.

While the future is always uncertain, know this - I am thoroughly looking forward to this adventure ahead with my new church home.